This article is written by Toru Hoshino, a jazz bassist and instructor based in Japan who teaches online lessons to students worldwide. In this article, he shows how to notate a bass ghost note in MuseScore.
A ghost note is the muted “×”-marked note used in slap playing and plenty of other phrases. It’s quick to set up in MuseScore, so it’s well worth adding to your notation toolkit.
A ghost note, shown with an × notehead.
Note: these steps are based on MuseScore 3.
Contents
How to Notate a Ghost Note
1. Enter Any Note
Start by entering whatever note you want to mark as a ghost note.
2. Find “Noteheads” → “Cross” in the Palette
In the palette on the left, find the Noteheads section, and within it, the Cross notehead.
3. Drag and Drop the Cross Notehead
Drag the Cross notehead onto the note you want to mark as a ghost note.
4. Done
That’s it — your ghost note notation is complete.
Note that the ghost note will still play back at its actual written pitch in audio playback — this only changes how it’s displayed on the page, not how MuseScore plays it back.
Ghost notes come up often enough that this is well worth keeping in your back pocket.
Notating the technique is one thing — actually nailing the muted, percussive feel of a real ghost note on the instrument is exactly the kind of nuance a teacher can fine-tune by ear.
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This is exactly the kind of thing that’s hard to fix alone — and where having a teacher makes all the difference.
At Line on Bass, I offer an online lesson service where you send me a video of your playing, and I give you specific, detailed feedback — every single day if you want.
Students from around the world are using this to fix exactly these kinds of issues and steadily improve their jazz bass skills.